Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
If You?re Not Worried About Dengue Fever, Here?s Why You Should Be
Aided by global warming, the potentially deadly mosquito-borne virus is spreading around the world to an alarming extent
By Charlie Campbell @charliecamp6ell
Nov. 18, 2013
...
The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that annual transmissions of the disease may breach 390 million. This year, infections are breaking records all over Asia and Latin America ? from sweeping epidemics in Nicaragua to the worse outbreaks in six years in India, 20 years in Thailand and the first homegrown case in Western Australia in seven decades. Even temperate climates are now stalking grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
Almost 3 billion people, or 40% of the world?s population, live in areas where there is a risk of dengue transmission....
Mention dengue and most people will think of aches and chills. But the disease is far more dangerous than that. Dengue causes white-blood-cell counts to plummet, making the body susceptible to secondary infections; even more alarmingly, it has a similar effect to platelets, impairing blood?s ability to clot. If left untreated, and particularly on a second infection, dengue hemorrhagic fever can take hold, and patients can suffer internal bleeding, shock and death.
While malaria rates have fallen 25% worldwide since 2000 ? including a 35% drop in Africa, according to the WHO ? dengue is seeing a dramatic upsurge. ?South America is gearing up for a huge epidemic,? says Young. Asia has been particularly hard-hit, with 51,000 dengue cases in Cambodia and Laos; 96,000 in the Philippines; 135,000 in Thailand; 18,000 in Malaysia; and 15,000 in Singapore by the start of September. The U.S. has not been spared either, with the first case in a major city in Houston and ?serious levels? in Florida.
...
Full text:
http://world.time.com/2013/11/18/if-youre-not-worried-about-dengue-fever-heres-why-you-should-be/
Aided by global warming, the potentially deadly mosquito-borne virus is spreading around the world to an alarming extent
By Charlie Campbell @charliecamp6ell
Nov. 18, 2013
...
The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that annual transmissions of the disease may breach 390 million. This year, infections are breaking records all over Asia and Latin America ? from sweeping epidemics in Nicaragua to the worse outbreaks in six years in India, 20 years in Thailand and the first homegrown case in Western Australia in seven decades. Even temperate climates are now stalking grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
Almost 3 billion people, or 40% of the world?s population, live in areas where there is a risk of dengue transmission....
Mention dengue and most people will think of aches and chills. But the disease is far more dangerous than that. Dengue causes white-blood-cell counts to plummet, making the body susceptible to secondary infections; even more alarmingly, it has a similar effect to platelets, impairing blood?s ability to clot. If left untreated, and particularly on a second infection, dengue hemorrhagic fever can take hold, and patients can suffer internal bleeding, shock and death.
While malaria rates have fallen 25% worldwide since 2000 ? including a 35% drop in Africa, according to the WHO ? dengue is seeing a dramatic upsurge. ?South America is gearing up for a huge epidemic,? says Young. Asia has been particularly hard-hit, with 51,000 dengue cases in Cambodia and Laos; 96,000 in the Philippines; 135,000 in Thailand; 18,000 in Malaysia; and 15,000 in Singapore by the start of September. The U.S. has not been spared either, with the first case in a major city in Houston and ?serious levels? in Florida.
...
Full text:
http://world.time.com/2013/11/18/if-youre-not-worried-about-dengue-fever-heres-why-you-should-be/